This invention relates generally to a vehicle occupant restraint belt system, and more particularly toward an improved buckle component that is slidably disposed along a belt of the system and used to secure the belt in an occupant restraining position.
Buckle components have been utilized for quite some time to secure restraint belts of vehicle occupant restraint belt systems in occupant restraining positions. These buckle components may take the form of a female buckle or a male latch plate which is generally referred to as a D-ring since it has an aperture that gives the plate a configuration much like the configuration of the capital letter D. A female buckle receives and attaches a complementary male D-ring to provide securement of one or more belts attached to either or both of the buckle components. The buckle components may be attached to the respective end portions of a pair of belts so that after attachment these two belts provide a continuous belt loop that encircles a vehicle occupant. Likewise, as shown by the U.S. Pat. No. 2,710,649 of Griswold II et al, the buckle component may be located intermediate the ends of a single belt so that the belt provides both lap and shoulder belt portions, with the buckle component being attachable to another belt portion to provide a second lap belt portion that cooperates with the first in what is generally referred to as a three-point belt system. The U.S. Pat. No. 3,258,293 of Sharp shows a belt system similar to the Griswold system in which the buckle component is also positioned along an intermediate portion of a belt to provide lap and shoulder belt portions.
The main structural component of these buckle components are referred to as housings whether they are of the female buckle or male D-ring type. The buckle component housing of the male D-rings may also be referred to as latch plates. In the past, both of these types of buckle components have been secured to their associated restraint belts in an adjustable manner by the use of lock bars. These lock bars have elongated configurations approximately equal to the width of their associated belts and have their end portions slidably mounted within slots in portions of the buckle component housing at each of the ends of the lock bar. This necessarily means that the width of the buckle component must be somewhat greater than the width of the belt in order that the length of the lock bar can accommodate the total width of the belt. The belt is looped over the lock bar so that tension on the portion of the belt which provides an occupant restraining function causes the lock bar to move the belt against a locking portion of the buckle component and thereby to clamp the belt against sliding over the lock bar. A manual pull exerted on the other portion of the belt pulls the lock bar away from the locking portion so that the buckle component may be adjusted along the belt.